I went a picked up a Saiga-12 from PRK Arms in Fresno. At their suggestion, I have created this posting of close-up shots of the gun after they were done with it to demonstrate the quality of their builds.

I've put all images on my own hosting so that they wont expire (photobucket) and so that calguns does not pay for the bandwidth.

To be done but not done yet:
* Add a K-Var US made upper handguard. They were out of stock when I provided the parts to PRK arms.

First some distance shots:

I went with a notched safety selector so that the tops of shells are not deformed when they sit loaded in the magazine for long periods of time. While there is a built-in bolt hold open in the Sagia-12s I found this to be very finicky in that if you whack the gun sharply it lets lose.

The Dinzag notched safety holds the bolt open even if you whack it with a rubber mallet.

You can see the rings where they welded (and refinished) the original holes for the fire control parts. I'm told these rings are for something else but there is a photo of them anyways.

I just think this picture came out really well, but I'm not sure what to point out here.

At least I'm honest

__________________

Quote:

"It wasn't a failure of laws," said Amanda Wilcox, who along with her husband, Nick, lobbies for the California chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "I just don't see how our gun laws could have stopped something like that."

-Speaking about the Oikos mass shooting in Oakland.

Quote:

With an assault weapon you just hold the trigger back and it goes blup,blup,blup

-Michael Bloomberg confused about the difference between a machine gun and a rifle, ABC News Nightline 12/21/12

This is the only Saiga-12 I have seen anywhere that uses both a Dinzag upper assembly and a Chaos tri-rail. I can say that the two are compatible, even though the gas vents on the tri-rail will not fit due to the increased diameter of the upper assembly where it retains the upper handguard.

Note how I don't currently have a upper handguard installed. That's why the gas tube looks a bit funky.

The Chaos Tri-rail is totally solid. The flashlight I mounted on it isn't going anywhere.

I prefer the much longer AK sight picture vs the (in my opinion) very odd 3-beads setup that the gun comes with from the factory.

When they get back in stock I'm going to put a LaRue AK Iron-Dot on the rear sight leaf to complete the sights.

I really like how the tri-rail and the flashlight went together. When the flashlight it turned on it lights up the front sight post in addition to anything that might be in front of me. I went with a smaller SureFire x300 because this thing weighs enough already without an extra pound of flashlight hanging off of it. 10 shotshells are heavy.

I did not get a photo of the lit up front sight post because the lighting require to make a good photo come out made the x300's light indiscernible from the background light.

The warthog-break is really evil. Its pointy and does not weigh too much. It works as a decent break as well but not to the extent that a break would work on a rifle. The people that know more then me say that a shotgun needs a mid-barrel break for it to really work.

__________________

Quote:

"It wasn't a failure of laws," said Amanda Wilcox, who along with her husband, Nick, lobbies for the California chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "I just don't see how our gun laws could have stopped something like that."

-Speaking about the Oikos mass shooting in Oakland.

Quote:

With an assault weapon you just hold the trigger back and it goes blup,blup,blup

-Michael Bloomberg confused about the difference between a machine gun and a rifle, ABC News Nightline 12/21/12

I can't say enough about the trigger feel from before the conversion to after. Before it was mushy, hard to predict exactly where along the pull it would break and not very consistent.

The Tapco trigger is way better. Its not a fancy 2-stage trigger like you would find on a target shooting rifle, but its a good solid single stage trigger.

PRK also installed a nice solid trigger guard. I'm not exactly sure which one this is but its really solid.

Here is a close-up of the mag-lock that is installed on this Saiga. It's not the standard cover-the-release type. This one replaced the release with half-a-release that requires a tool to remove the mag. Its both nice and not nice. The gun did not come with the standard release, so I would have to somehow find one if (when) the AW laws in this state are repealed, but on the plus side there are no holes in the receiver for a metal box that would cover the release either.

One thing I didn't know about the SAW grip before I got it was that it has a hole in it for you to put things in. Things like the mag release tool.

__________________

Quote:

"It wasn't a failure of laws," said Amanda Wilcox, who along with her husband, Nick, lobbies for the California chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "I just don't see how our gun laws could have stopped something like that."

-Speaking about the Oikos mass shooting in Oakland.

Quote:

With an assault weapon you just hold the trigger back and it goes blup,blup,blup

-Michael Bloomberg confused about the difference between a machine gun and a rifle, ABC News Nightline 12/21/12

I'm no gunsmith so I really don't know what they did with the internals of the fire control group, but I took some photos of them so that those of us who might know can tell...

Inside the chamber

Through the magwell towards the rear of the gun.

The hammer and other fire control parts. The gun was field-stripped for this photo.

The mag inserted with some buckshot ready to chamber. The bolt was locked back with the bolt-hold-open notch on the safety for this photo. My cheapie digital camera does not have a good enough field of depth to keep everything in focus for this shot. I spent the camera money on the S-12

__________________

Quote:

"It wasn't a failure of laws," said Amanda Wilcox, who along with her husband, Nick, lobbies for the California chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "I just don't see how our gun laws could have stopped something like that."

-Speaking about the Oikos mass shooting in Oakland.

Quote:

With an assault weapon you just hold the trigger back and it goes blup,blup,blup

-Michael Bloomberg confused about the difference between a machine gun and a rifle, ABC News Nightline 12/21/12

Because I mentioned it earlier but have no photo of it here is what the Chaos CQC looks like when installed on the gun.

So far I've taken it out to shoot twice, and both times came home with a big bruise from shooting 50 full-power slugs each time. I've got an rubber buttstock pad made to handle the recoil of a grenade launcher on order so that next time I go out I'll get to keep my shoulder intact.

I've yet to get a GunFixer gas plug so that I can adjust the gas system, but with the Chaos CQC installed it cycles Federal bulk pack birdshot ammo from Wallmart and Winchester 3" magnum slugs just fine, but it has to be manually cycled on Winchester Ranger LE Low Recoil Slugs.

I have not yet shot enough buckshot to comment on how that cycles but I'm not expecting any trouble.

Depending on how it handles HD buckshot loads I might or might not install a GunFixr gas plug.

__________________

Quote:

"It wasn't a failure of laws," said Amanda Wilcox, who along with her husband, Nick, lobbies for the California chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "I just don't see how our gun laws could have stopped something like that."

-Speaking about the Oikos mass shooting in Oakland.

Quote:

With an assault weapon you just hold the trigger back and it goes blup,blup,blup

-Michael Bloomberg confused about the difference between a machine gun and a rifle, ABC News Nightline 12/21/12

You can see the rings where they welded (and refinished) the original holes for the fire control parts.

Those are not rings from the original FCG. The two major "rings" are the pins holding in the ejector block. The minor "rings" are spot welds that attach the internal bolt rails to the receiver. The original FCG holes would be at the rear of the receiver above the pistol grip. Could you take a pic of the back of the receiver on both sides?

I'm not sure if I'm taking a picture of the correct place here because I can't tell if there were ever any holes here. Let me know if I should post photos of any other parts.

Right side:
#1

#2

Left side
#1

#2

__________________

Quote:

"It wasn't a failure of laws," said Amanda Wilcox, who along with her husband, Nick, lobbies for the California chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "I just don't see how our gun laws could have stopped something like that."

-Speaking about the Oikos mass shooting in Oakland.

Quote:

With an assault weapon you just hold the trigger back and it goes blup,blup,blup

-Michael Bloomberg confused about the difference between a machine gun and a rifle, ABC News Nightline 12/21/12

No it's not legal. FEDUPWBS is going to sell you something that get you and him prison time. Yes the Saiga 12 is legal with a maglock installed.
And yes, PRK does some of the finest work you'll see period.

__________________
There are 3 kinds of people in this world.
The wise, learn from the mistakes of others.
The smart, learn from their own mistakes.
The others, well......they just never learn.

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death!"
Patrick Henry.